Urinary phenylethylamine (PEA) excretion was evaluated in two populations of depressed hospitalized patients. Seven of 53 patients had PEA values exceeding three times the highest value found in 16 normal controls. The patients with high PEA excretion were all females. They were not, however, otherwise clinically distinguishable from depressed patients with low PEA. In a subsample of 31 patients and 10 controls, PEA excretion was not correlated with phenylacetic acid (PAA) excretion. These results suggest that depression is not associated with a generalized PEA deficit and that PAA reductions, previously reported in a depressed patient population, may not reflect a PEA abnormality.